“She’s recovering well. If she drinks more River water, I’m sure she’ll improve. Though the more herself she is, the more dangerous she becomes. I’ll keep an eye on her.”

“Right. Let’s build a flask she can drink out of.” Ajax drained his eyes of tears and Pyrus stripped his flesh of bubbling magma to create a flask made of stone. Pyrus filled it with water and gave the flask to Amber.

“Don’t drink it all in one go. Have a small sip whenever you feel out of sorts.” Again, the two mined themselves of their water and fire to create stone. Ajax, the better man to rebuild the Fountain, finished his reconstruction in a matter of minutes, with hands that could mold stone like clay. He breathed so hard I scrunched my face in confusion.

In sign language “What’s wrong, Ajax?”

“The Fountain of Forgetfulness may have been restored with some hindrances to who can enter, exit and when,” Ajax said.

In sign language “What hindrances?”

“It sounds strange, but the Fountain entrance is now only large enough to fit one person, but two souls are required for admittance. The exit then requires a total of three months before another two people can return. I’m sorry but you can guess what this means for Amber and the Twins.…” Her eyes irradiated and her hair, as if carried by the light, grew wild.

“I will not speak to them,” she growled. She held her throat as if it was not her own voice that spat those words. How could we trust her to carry this out? 

In sign language “Let’s not do this. We should find a diffe-” Amber jumped. She pushed Ajax out of the way and dove into the Fountain. The giant fell on his bottom. Black waters turned to cracked rock as I ran towards her to help her out. My sister was gone. 

“We can say goodbye to Amber for a few months…” said Pyrus in an almost callous tone. I used the goat’s head to follow her. At the entrance of The Fountain of Forgetfulness stood both Adelpha and Delphi with their father, Atikos. They were waiting.

“Are you expecting to cause us further suffering? I don’t think you could, even with your Death State. We’d return here. We’d still have a father.” She grit her teeth, but relaxed her fists and sighed.

“I know what I did was wrong. Honestly, I don’t remember why I did i-”

“Which is why I’m not sorry!” The spirit inside her had more control than she did. She took a sip of her water. Adelpha and Delphi looked at each other.

“Looks like our curse did more to you than we thought.” 

“To end your suffering… we forgive you.”

“What? I didn’t finish talking.” They walked past her. 

“I had something to say.” Amber said in a slight whine. Adelpha stopped.

“Amber, you clearly lack the ability to apologize. We want to help you with whatever is going on.” Delphi, below the fountain exit, faced Adelpha.

“Sister… I think I should stay with our father.”

“Why?” she asked.

“He deserves the company and, well.. I think you deserve this.” Delphi took a lava rock to his back. He carefully carved his crown out. He grunted as the wing fell.

“What are you doing? You can’t go through the fountain without your crown.”

“Not very much. One of my mutations numbs my body to pain… hope the same happened to you?” 

“I’ll do this for you. I’ll do my best not to hurt you.” She screamed. He sighed.

“I’m sorry. I thought this would be a nice gift.” 

“Let me do it. I’d feel more comfortable.” Delphi’s eyebrows furrowed as he handed her the rock and wing.

“I’ll use my hands to guide you so they don’t end up lopsided, alright?”

“Alright.” Amber smiled. She wondered if this was what it was like to have a sibling. The only person she ever grew close to was me and she knew she hadn’t been a good family member, to neither me nor the Twins.

Adelpha hissed and sighed when the wing was finally in place.

Her eyes grew bright. Horns shot out of her head, black with fire. Her mutations faded away as an exotic beauty replaced her twisted features. Crooked fingers and hunched back straightened, rotting teeth took on a healthy shine. Pale skin turned gold.

“You… you look great.” Adelpha’s jet black eyes widened.

“I feel great.” She hugged Delphi.

 “Are you ready to get back out there?”

“Yes. You make sure our father is happy.”

“We will.” Adelpha flew through the exit. Amber walked up to him.

“So you knew only one of you could return to the surface world… but didn’t want her to know?”

“It was a good excuse to give her what she needed to fly on her own. Though I didn’t know she’d undergo that transformation.”